Wreck Speciality Report
We were planning to dive the HMS Canterbury and due to the depths being around the 26-30m range we decided to make the course on Enriched Air. Some of the people enrolled were not Enriched divers so this course was completed prior to the wreck course. The PADI Enriched Air course does not require open water dives but doing the Canterbury on Nitrox really demonstrated the advantages of diving with an Enriched Air blend of 32%. Also prior to the weekend the wreck specialty students researched the Canterbury wreck, found interesting facts and schematics. We stayed at “the Cowshed” with Shane and Julia of Northland Dive Friday night.
Saturday Day 1 dives 1 & 2: We were really lucky with the weather with almost glassy sea conditions and soon at the dive site in the rib called 007. Dive one of the wreck course is a tour essential for getting an overview of the wreck. We descended down the central decent line and the following the line of the deck proceeded to the stern. Bows and Sterns of wrecks are always nice when you leave the wreck by a few meters which is what we did, traveling back to the middle of the ship we stopped to look in the Hanger and when we had returned to the decent line it was time for Andrew and Brendan to ascend to their safety stop. The others came with me to the bow and again we had a look from mid water and said goodbye to Bevan and Kevin who ascended up the bow line, Clayton myself and Karl who was just along for a fun dive started our accent toward the central line. Our dive times ranged from under 30 minutes to over 40 minutes which demonstrated the value of diving on Nitrox as our maximum depth was 30m. After a lunch in deep water cove it was back down for dive 2 which is a mapping dive, we concentrated around the central area of the ship from the Bridge to Hanger. We were looking for possible hazards, safe entry points and again getting to know the wreck. When we returned to the cowshed after showers and a few beers we got our reels out and practiced correct line usage around the cars as the next day we were using them underwater. We settled down for the half hour PADI wreck video and a few more beers then watched the rugby which Shane projected onto the wall for us.
Sunday Day 2 dives 3 & 4: Dive three was reel use and everybody had chance to practice reel use on the outside of the ship before finishing the dive with further explorations. After our lunch break surface interval we did dive 4 wreck penetration Andrew and Brendan penetrated the bridge and officer quarters first with myself tagging along, there were some entanglement and a fin came off but all was sorted in a controlled and safe fashion. Bevan and Kevin penetrated next and Clayton and I did the last penetration, by this time the visibility had noticeably diminished, by the time we exited the wreck it was time to come up. This was a great course to teach and a big thanks to the students who made my job easy. - John
Next wreck course HMS Waikato 4 dives 4-5th September cost only $449
If you just want 2 days of wreck diving $300 including accommodation and food
Or come up for just 1 day.. 2 dives $130
Book at the shack
